Halloween Is Cheating On Jesus?

Continuing the Halloween theme from earlier today, I thought we would post this quick Halloween warning as a followup to “all things related to Halloween are Satanic.”

Frankly, I just don’t get it.

Maybe I’ve been brainwashed by Satan and just don’t realize it, but I don’t understand the fear mongering and vitrol spewed out over Halloween.

Until I (sadly) became too cool to go trick or treating, I dressed up every year growing up and went out around the neighborhood to replenish my candy supply from the previous year. I’ve been Peter Pan, Captain Picard, and I think I was a Transformer one year as a little kid.

All of my Christian friends and family dressed up for Halloween and went trick or treating too. We were and still are very involved in the church and Halloween was never anything more than a night to dress up in a costume, get free candy, and then pass judgement on all of our neighbors who thought it was a good idea to hand out peppermints and toothbrushes instead of Twix and Skittles.

So what level of corrupting influence did this “abhorrent” tradition have on me?

Did I and my friends slowly, but surely become seduced by the occult and turn our lives over to the devil?

Nope.

I went trick or treating for years and instead of ending up as a pagan Satan worship, I’m now a youth pastor and an ordained elder in a fairly conservative evangelical denomination. (Shocking I know)

That Halloween stuff sure is a slippery slope to Satanism.

Are the “origins” of Halloween pagan? Sure. But so are lots of things we do in the church: Christmas trees, worshiping on Sunday, the dates we choose for Christmas and Easter, and let’s not forget that “the devil’s music”, aka rock n roll, is now the dominant styles of worship music in contemporary church.

The question surrounding Halloween and other things with “pagan origins” is not why they started, but how they are being used now.

The thing is the church has never been afraid of “pagan origins” because the church as always believed that the transforming nature of her gospel was powerful enough to take even the most “pagan” and “wicked” of things and use them for good.

Next weekend the children’s department at my church, like many others across the country, will put that belief into practice when they host our annual Trunk-or-Treat event. This “pagan” and “evil” holiday is being used as a moment to share the love of Christ with our community.

It’s almost as if what  Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis was really true,

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.“

If anything, the mere fact that Halloween had pagan origins and is now being used by many to share the gospel is something to celebrate; for it is a moment in which we see the redemptive and transformative grace of Jesus being put into practice.

So, should Christians “avoid evil”? Of course.

Are there “evil things” happening on Halloween? Sure. Lots of people will get drunk that night, get behind the wheel of their car, and end up causing a needless and evil tragedy. But Satan worship and occult practice are not on that list of evil things, at least not the case of trick or treaters.

Halloween is not built around the occult. It’s built around candy, costumes, and the money companies can make off selling those things and everything else Halloween related. It only takes a quick trip to Wal-Mart to figure that out.

If we as a church were really that concerned (and I don’t think we really are) about “worshiping other gods” as this lady and so many others seem to harp on this time of year, then why not worry about real gods that a lot of Christians  really are worshipping: money, career, success, security, sex, ourselves.

There are lots of things to be “concerned” about as a Christian. Your child dressing up like Iron Man or Snow White for Halloween isn’t one of them.

If you really need something to be worried about at Halloween, then worry about the dentist bills your child is going to accrue eating all that candy.

From personal experience I can testify that those cavities and the amount of money it costs to fill those cavities truely is from the devil.

Grace and peace,

Zack Hunt